Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 525 - 88 - Doris’s Gratitude_1

Chapter 525: Chapter 88 - Doris’s Gratitude_1

Doris bent low, holding her hands above her head, preparing to receive the item in a very humble position. Catherine did not put the fragment in her hand into Doris’ hands. Doing so would have meant accepting Doris’ extremely submissive posture, which would have seemed very arrogant and disrespectful. Therefore, Catherine held Doris’ arm, forcefully bringing her upright, and said quietly, "High Priest, if you continue with this posture, I really cannot continue. I can accept your gratitude, and the gratitude of the Sea Race, but I cannot accept your current attitude. It is too exaggerated."

"You don’t understand." Doris straightened her body with Catherine’s help, but her expression remained solemn: "You can’t comprehend how important this is to our Sea Race. The help you’ve given us warrants this kind of ceremoniousness."

"No, I do understand." Catherine stared intently at Doris, "I clearly understand what this represents for the Sea Race. I also understand what transpired during those short minutes last night. I carefully considered my choices. If I really wanted this unequal and submissive posture, why did I make that choice last night? Moreover, we merely fulfilled a standard contract for our client, regardless of the end results of the task on them, it has nothing to do with us. Therefore, High Priest, let’s interact as equals. I can’t accept this differing treatment. Please forgive me."

Doris stared intently into Catherine’s eyes, as if trying to see deep into her soul. Catherine calmly met Doris’ gaze, without looking away for a moment. After about thirty seconds of silence, Doris gently nods, a familiar gentle smile on her face. She extended her hands again, saying softly, "If that’s the case, then thank you."

Smiling in return, Catherine solemnly placed the Nightmare Spirit fragment in Doris’ hand. The moment she held the fragment, Doris, as a member of the clergy, keenly felt the lingering power in the shards of the Divine Artifact. Despite most of the Divine Power being dissipated, it was a Divine Artifact made by the deity itself, inevitably bearing the mark of the deity, even if the deity had fallen.

Holding these fragments of the Divine Artifact, Doris even felt somewhat dizzy. The threat that had hung over the Sea Race for thousands of years, the burden that lay on the shoulders of successive High Priests, the menace that had concerned her for nearly a hundred years, was finally resolved today. Even with Doris’ stable and peaceful mind, she fought the urge to cry out loud. Even though she temporarily suppressed this urge, she could not hide her excited smile.

"Honorable High Priest," Catherine raised her voice, pulling Doris out of her daze, "Please verify that these fragments are the items needed for your contract. If there are no issues, please confirm this on the Adventurer Badge. Only after you confirm will the task officially ends."

"There’s no mistake, these are the items we sought in our contract." Doris beckoned, and a high-ranking merfolk priest that they had met before came over. Doris handed the fragments of the Divine artifact to her, and she stored them in a box of unknown material. Doris then turned to Catherine, saying, "The eyes of our lord, through my eyes, have seen these broken Divine Artifacts. The Deity just bestowed an Oracle, confirming them as the evil objects that have troubled the Sea Race for over three thousand years. Therefore, you adventurers have earned the gratitude of the Ocean and the Storm God. In the distant future, when the time is right, you will naturally receive repayment from the Storm."

"I am grateful for the Deity’s mercy," Catherine curtsied, expressing gratitude to the powerful god.

"All right, that concludes the task handover." Doris handed over the confirmed Adventurer Badge to Catherine, held Catherine’s hand high, and turned to face the large crowd of Sea Race folk, shouting, "Now is the time to cheer and celebrate victory."

"Hey, Sister Doris," Catherine felt her face turning hot. Although she had experienced many grand events and was an experienced adventurer and well-educated noblewoman, she was still a girl in her early twenties. Faced with the shouts of thousands of merfolk, Catherine uncomfortably writhed her arm, trying to shake off Doris’ hand, "Don’t do that! It’s uncomfortable. Besides, this is the result of everyone’s hard work. It’s not fair for me alone to accept the cheers."

"You are the leader, accepting cheer and honor is your responsibility." During Catherine’s panic, Pannis’s hand gently touched her shoulder from behind, an unusually serious voice sounded in her ear, "And besides, think about your choice. These cheers, gratitude and sincere respect, each one of them is what you deserve. Apart from you, I believe no one could have carried out this mission better. The choice you made ultimately proved you were worthy of the name of our adventurer team, and also Nellie’s followers. I believe, if Nellie was still alive, she would have been proud of having a follower like you. Look back at the expressions and gazes of your companions. Everyone is supporting and trusting you, so receive this glory that belongs to you with your chest held high. That is your perfect medal."

Catherine paused for a moment, gradually blossoming into a brilliant smile. However, she didn’t do as Pannis suggested. Instead, she used her free hand to reach for Lina’s. Their gazes seemed able to speak volumes, allowing mutual understanding without the need for words. Glancing down at her hand clasped by Catherine, Lina reciprocated with an identical smile and grasped Vivian’s small hand. Following a moment of contemplation, Vivian cheerfully took hold of Freya, who subsequently reached out to a reluctant Pannis. The five of them, their hands clasping each other’s, stood together in a line. Led by Doris, they raised their hands high to greet the cheers of the Sea Race together.

"Perhaps you’re right, Pannis, but I still do not believe this glory is mine alone," said Catherine boldly. "Even if the cheers are directed solely towards me, I choose to share them with everyone, because this glory belongs to us all, everyone’s glory. Yes, I made the choices, but minus your unwavering support, I may have not been able to resist the temptation. So, if we must bask in glory, let’s do it together, just as we bear our sorrows and tribulations together, this is the choice a family should make."

Pannis’s pupils slightly contracted. Although his face still held his earlier smile, he felt a sense of regret internally, mulling over a thought. ’Could she be right? Did I make a mistake back then? Perhaps.’

The cheering lasted a while before it gradually subsided. Doris released Catherine’s hand and turned around. She swept them all into her embrace with her nearly ten-meter long fish tail. Mirroring a tender and playful expression of hers, commonly seen in the Storm God Temple, she pulled them closer, whispering,"The ceremony’s over, and what follows is just my personal gratitude. Not representing the temple or our race, just gratitude from a foreign friend."

"Doris, calm down a bit!" caused by Doris’s strong fish tail, the girls were all grimacing in discomfort, Catherine managed to say with difficulty. "Don’t be so excited, let us loose first."

"Do you know how I’ve been feeling all this while?" Doris relaxed her grip slightly, but kept them wrapped in her tail. "You can’t possibly imagine how terrified I was when I regained my consciousness after being under mind control for several minutes. The control took over me abruptly, leaving me no time to even feel fear or desperation. The aftereffect kicked in only once it ended. More bluntly speaking, we had done all possible preparations beforehand. Several powerful demigods gathered in front of my Lord’s Holy Image in the Storm God Temple. If you made any other decision, we planned to use the Holy Image’s majesty to momentarily oppose the divine artifact’s influence, and work together to create a devastating whirlpool to obliterate the island completely. I hope you will not resent us for this."

"No, of course not, after all, we suggested you do so," Catherine shook her head. "But if you could let us go now, that would be great."

"Ha Ha, I got carried away; I am really sorry." Doris untangled her tail and carried on, "Despite all our preparations, we still underestimated the power of this divine artifact. It’s unfathomable how it managed to penetrate the Holy Image’s influence in deep sea and controlled us directly. None of our defenses bore results, within an instant, we all were controlled, manipulated into complying with the owner of the divine artifact. We regained control of ourselves after about ten minutes, only then processing the severity of what had just happened. Had you not destroyed the artifact, I don’t want to imagine what could have happened, it was truly terrifying. We were clueless when we regained our senses, the delayed emergence of fear almost caused us to breakdown. It took a long time to overcome this."

"It’s in the past now," Pannis patted Doris’s back lightly, speaking in a soft voice. "There is next to no chance of such a divine artifact manifesting ever again."

"Yes, the fate of the Sea Race should be in the hands of the Sea Race itself," Catherine also joined in. "Nobody has the right to control or enslave others, even for the loftiest cause."

"It seems that delegating this matter to you was one of the wisest choices I have ever made," Doris sighed, "On the way here, we decided to invite you to the temple, to express our gratitude with a grand feast. However, I assume you wouldn’t want to journey back and forth again, so we decided to hold the feast here. Please do not decline, consider it a token of our appreciation."

"Don’t worry, we won’t," said Catherine, "But before the feast, I have something to return to you, the Sea Emperor Crown."(To be continued. If you like this work, please come to qidian.com to vote and recommend. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)